Masses to Masses: Case Zero
by iNf3ctioNZ
Summary: There's a story behind every detective duo.  Set a day before Masses to Masses, Garrus Vakarian faces an investigation into illegal weapons...and what should have been just a simple day in the office quickly turns into precisely the opposite.
1. Garrus vs The Briefing

Masses to Masses: Case Zero

Chapter 1

The Hoosiers: Cops and Robbers

**A/N: Hello! I know I'm supposed to be on a writing holiday/vacation**** to study, but this is an idea I've had in the back of my head now that I couldn't resist looking into while I had a free day. This is only the first chapter, and I'm uploading this for two reasons: as a birthday present to Kassandra Black (Happy Birthday Kass! Everyone go and send her a happy birthday PM!), and a treat because of my long absence (which is gonna continue until July, I'm afraid).**

**So, advanced warning, do NOT expect regular updates on this. At all. I have the whole plot of this planned out, and it should be around seven or so short chapters, like a case in Masses to Masses 1. Probably a good 20,000 words, maybe more. Masses to Masses 3 is July's priority, this is just a little bit of fun that I might come back to now and again, and you all deserve **_**something **_**since I've been gone for a cool two months or so now. But I won't be touching this again until…I dunno. Whenever I feel like it/have time. It's nice to be able to write something that isn't the first person style for a change, anyway.**

**Anyway, this story is a short prequel to MtM1, looking at how Garrus ended up getting Ian as his partner, and filling in tiny details that get a fleeting mention in MtM1. You don't really need any knowledge of the MtM series itself to enjoy this; it does link back to it, but this is mostly an idea of the kind of thing Garrus would have done at C-Sec pre-ME1.**

**So, enjoy!**

* * *

_"I'm just doing my job, you F***ING TW*T!"_  
Hannah Rutherford: voicing Detective Cole Phelps

* * *

Executor Pallin sighed, as was so often the case with the man, while he stared out of the window at the Citadel stretching out before him, lights twinkling in the artificial night as the cars flew through the air, leaving light trails looping around the giant structures and skyscrapers. For a newcomer to the Citadel, the sight would have been awe-inspiring. Pallin, however, had been around so long he really didn't give a shit anymore.

C-Sec life always had something to make him stressed. Whether it was crime statistics on the rise, officers in the field messing up, or krogan mercenaries thinking they could come and slaughter people and expect to get away with it, the Council or someone else was banging on his door demanding results and answers. Acting as Council liaison was hard enough when there _wasn't _a crisis happening, never mind when the latest C-Sec screw up had him trying to placate galactic government and local communities. He knew some of the officers joked he never slept because he was always so busy, and half of him wished it was the case. It would at least let him keep up a bit better.

That night, though, it wasn't any kind of crisis that him scowling out of his window. C-Sec had managed to be competent all day, which made a nice change, and crime rates seemed to be firmly on the down. In truth, Pallin felt like he should have been popping the cork on some dextro-champagne and actually relaxing for once. But he couldn't. Because of the file staring back at him on his desk, picture of a young, blond haired human male on it.

Mandibles clicking irritably, Pallin took a seat at his desk again and looked down at the grinning human, along with the file's header, which simply read: _Application for Detective Position – Ian Shaw. _The Executor quietly cursed the Council under his breath for putting the thing on his desk. The humans were already developing far faster than any other species had ever dared, and he knew he wasn't alone in resenting that fact. Yet the Council, seemingly wanting to placate their desire for more, told him that the Investigation branch of C-Sec was too full of turians. That humanity could do the job just as well, and that it was making them look bad, alienating all the different species on the Citadel.

There would be, they argued, no harm in bringing in some diversity to the department. Pallin couldn't help chuckling at the idea. Turians and humans rarely got along, and he firmly believed turians _could _do the job better than humans. All of them had military training, were quicker than humans, stronger than humans, and worked better as a unit. To put it simply, Pallin felt it was a terrible idea.

Yet his hand was being forced. The Council had been clear that it wasn't something to be debated or discussed. Pallin was to hire the human they recommended, and that would be the end of the matter. And so, Ian Shaw's application had ended up on his desk. Earthborn human, only eighteen years old, yet he was somehow more than qualified for the job. Pallin's first instinct was that the application was somehow a fake, yet all the references checked out. It would take a phenomenal hacking job to fabricate, and even that would probably leave holes. Once again, Pallin stared back down at the picture of the human, then slammed the folder shut and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the roof.

Shaw was going to be hired. There was no question about it, and Pallin was slightly grateful that the Council had at least given him the application of someone who, on paper, was well qualified for the job. The only question remaining was who to partner this Ian Shaw with. Pallin didn't particularly want to inflict the human upon any turian in his force, yet someone had to take one for the team. The question was, who?

Pallin's mandibles widened slightly in thought, before he glanced down at the application again. Shaw's interview was set for the next day, which gave him less than a full day to make a decision. The Executor rested his head on a talon, closing his eyes slightly and willing the file on his desk to simply disappear, growling upon opening his eyes and seeing it staring right back at him.

Snapping his head back up, he made a decision. If any detective crossed him in the next twenty-four hours, however slight the infringement, then their punishment would be the human. It was the only fair way of doing things. If no-one messed up, then…well, he'd have to draw lots.

Pallin pushed the folder to one side, his mind firmly made up, and began flicking through the crime figures for the previous month. All he could do now was wait.

#########

**18 hours later…**

The spaceport was a mess. A total bloody mess. In the literal sense. Corpses strewn around the place, blue and red blood from humans and turians forming a delightful purple shade on the smooth floor, and weapons scattered randomly around the place, courtesy of both the corpses and an exploded transport crate. The dead were wearing identical armour, red with a white stripe on the shoulder, signifying their affiliation with a small-time smuggling group. And in the middle of it all stood one lone turian in blue and black armour, eyepiece streaming data over his left eye, single pistol clutched in his right talon, frown firmly fixed upon his face.

"Fuck," Garrus Vakarian said.

#########

**10 hours prior…**

Garrus was late for work.

It wasn't really his fault. The elevator in his apartment had broken down in the morning, thankfully before he managed to get in it, though the detour down the stairs added to the journey time. He'd managed to get stuck behind an elcor who took up the whole of the walkway in part of the Wards, and swerved whenever Garrus had tried to overtake him. Then some incredibly exhausted looking asari had bumped into him and gone down as if he'd violently shoved her, leading to about five minutes spent checking if she was alright and apologising profusely, even though she was the one who'd walked into him. The woman had even seemed to recognise him, though Garrus had no idea how.

It wasn't important, though. What was important was that he was running late, something Executor Pallin never appreciated. That said, Pallin appreciated very little, but lateness was something he took a particularly dim view on. Garrus could only hope one of the other detectives was running later than him, though he sincerely doubted anyone else would have had the misfortune he'd suffered within ten minutes of walking out his own front door.

_I guess it means things can only get better, _he thought to himself idly, stepping through the main doors of the C-Sec building and taking a sharp left towards his department, breaking into a slight jog glancing at the time on his omni-tool. Five minutes late. Hopefully Pallin wouldn't be around, and he'd be able to sneak in without anyone noticing he was running behind time…

"Garrus!" he heard a familiar voice shout from across the lobby, and he quietly cursed his luck as he looked over to Morgan Patterson's desk, the man himself giving him a grin. While a little annoyed about being seen, Garrus couldn't help smiling back a little too. He'd always liked Morgan. The human had a fairly quick wit and friendly personality, at least to those who showed him the same courtesy. Some of the detectives didn't like him so much, but that was probably down to prejudice against humans more than anything else. "You're a bit late!"

"Really, Morgan?" he replied sarcastically, furrowing his brow ridges at the man and taking a few steps towards his desk. "And I thought I was just running into the office for the good of my health."

"I bet you were thinking of that one all the way through the journey over here," Morgan chuckled. "Of all the days to pick to be late, though, you've picked a good one." The smirk on Morgan's face made Garrus sigh slightly. Obviously Pallin _was _in the office, which was bad enough by itself…but presumably he was pissed off too. _I'm getting all the luck today, _he thought, as Morgan continued. "The Executor is in one of his moods. Already been yelling at any human officer to cross his path this morning, he's tearing up the offices…I don't know what's up with him. You could go check, see if you can calm him down?"

Garrus laughed humourlessly. "Yeah, calm Pallin down. That's a lot easier said than done."

The man just shrugged. "It's worth a shot. Besides, I want to see what's got him so mad. I've heard rumours that the Council want to put someone new into the department, maybe that's got something to do with it?"

"Since when has Pallin needed a reason to get angry?" Garrus asked rhetorically, checking the time again. Now he was six minutes late. _Perfect. _"Look, I should go, Morgan. Don't want to be any later than I already am. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay," the human said brightly, turning back towards his terminal screen. "Good luck in there!" Garrus sighed and walked slowly towards the main office door. Part of him was just considering calling in sick and going home since the Executor was in such a bad mood, but he squashed the idea almost as soon as it popped into his head. Besides, he was rather curious to see what exactly had managed to get Pallin so riled. Taking a deep breath, Garrus braced himself, and pushed through into the office.

"I OUGHT TO RESIGN!" Pallin yelled, standing in the middle of the room and staring wildly at the turians assembled around him. "It's an outrage! The Council are demanding a _human _in here! They've tested me before, but this…" The Executor muttered something under his breath Garrus couldn't catch, then looked up…straight at him. "Vakarian! You decided to show up to work this morning, then?"

"Only because you wouldn't cope around here if I hadn't," he replied, moving towards the rest of the group. He hadn't expected Pallin to see the funny side of the joke, but was heartened to see some of the other detectives chuckle slightly. It was good to see not everyone was sharing Pallin's pissed off attitude.

"Do _not _cross me today, Vakarian!" Pallin shouted. "Spirits! A human!" Garrus sighed slightly, shaking his head slightly when the Executor wasn't looking. Rather than outrage, Garrus actually felt a human wouldn't be bad for the department. Sure, maybe a little awkward among some of the officers for a little while, but he knew that a lot of people on the Citadel resented all C-Sec detectives being turian. And if the guy was competent, what was the problem? "He's going to need a partner, you know! They don't pay me enough for this…"

One of the other detectives, Narshan, on the homicide team, tried to be diplomatic. "Sir, none of us have met this human yet. I think we should reserve judgement until he walks through the door."

"Nonsense," Pallin scoffed. "This is just another step in humanity's relentless advance, but who am I to stop it?" The Executor stopped for a moment, drawing in deep breaths and calming himself, before continuing. "I'll deal with who to partner him with later, anyway. Right now, we've got a job to do." Garrus breathed a sigh of relief as Pallin put the human topic to the side. Last thing any of them needed was him ranting about it all day long…though it'd be interesting to see who the human got partnered with.

The partner thing had been something implemented only a few weeks earlier, and while some of the detectives like Narshan had already been teamed with someone, a few were still left. Garrus guessed around six, including himself, but the black market was something he could handle himself. Someone else could probably use the help more than he could.

"So, Vakarian, it's good you got here just now," Pallin said, snapping Garrus out of his thoughts. "Some of the regular officers got a lead on illegal arms trading. Pulled in a salarian yesterday who was carrying an unregistered firearm, he cracked in interrogation quick. Gave the place he got it from, and you need to follow it up. Trace it back to the supplier, if possible." Garrus's spirits were lifted by the prospect of a real case for a change, rather than having to fill in a backlog of paperwork like he'd been doing for the past few days. Pallin certainly wasn't hanging around with the briefing, and given the Executor's mood, the sooner he got out of the office the better.

"Sure," he nodded enthusiastically. At the very least, doing some work on the case would help put him back in Pallin's good books, at least temporarily. The Executor had never really liked his more headstrong attitude…and somewhat lax approach to paperwork, but it couldn't be denied Garrus got results. Just not always in the way C-Sec wanted. "Where am I going?"

"Second hand electronics store in the lower Wards," Pallin replied quickly. "I think it's called Hante's Electronics."

"Let me guess. The guy I'm looking for is called Hante?"

"No, Vakarian," Pallin replied, rolling his eyes, "he's called Eric. Of course it's Hante! He's a volus merchant, if I need to narrow it down anymore for you."

"I think I've got it," Garrus chuckled, mood buoyed by Pallin flaring his mandibles in annoyance. "I'll head out there now, see what I can dig up."

The Executor nodded. "Good. Don't let me down here, Vakarian, not today. You might regret it." Garrus frowned a little at that, but wrote it off as nothing. Pallin was always making idle threats in the office. If he actually killed people whenever he threatened to, there'd be significantly less than two hundred thousand C-Sec agents…

"I'll do my best," Garrus said confidently, before turning on his heel and heading to the door.

It had been a bad start to the day. But Garrus Vakarian was determined to turn that around.

**A/N: There we have it, chapter 1. Some of you should remember Hante from MtM1, who'll be showing again next time, as a case that should be simple turns out precisely the opposite for Garrus...**

**Oh, I should probably mention that Ian/me is making cameos in other stories (well, more than just cameos, actually…):  
****Into the Fire v2 by bale626, and Mass Effect: Dead Echo by thunderfury12124. Check 'em out!**

**So, all of you say happy birthday to Kassandra Black, drop a review, and I'll see you in July time with Masses to Masses 3 and more of this! Until then!**

**P.S: You can follow me on Twitter now! It's iNf3ctioNZ_UK.**


	2. Garrus vs The Volus

Chapter 2

**A/N: For Hante talking****, I'm not really going to write in the clicking noise volus' make when they talk. Use your imagination, haha.**

"This must be the place," Garrus muttered to himself quietly, as he stepped out the cruiser and gave the exterior of 'Hante's Electronics' a quick going over. First impressions were…underwhelming. To say the least. Omni-tools and terminals set up in a seemingly random order in the shop window, which Garrus easily recognised as models from years gone by. The technology was most likely obsolete compared to modern models, but the second-hand business obviously had some life in it, considering the shop was still around.

As he surveyed the shop, Garrus couldn't help if Pallin hadn't actually gotten the name of the lead wrong. He was supposed to be investigating illegal weapons, after all, yet he was standing outside an electronics store. Not to mention the state of the place. Garrus had heard the saying 'crime doesn't pay' before, and from experience knew it was a complete lie, but in Hante's case it seemed to be true. If selling illegal weaponry was getting him any money, it definitely wasn't being spent on the shop.

Still, the Executor was already in a bad mood, and a call implying he might have got some directions wrong would undoubtedly tip him over the edge. Garrus and Pallin had been through their fair share of arguments in the past, all of which ended in some manner of reprimand for Garrus, so he wasn't feeling overly inclined to test the other turian's patience.

_It's in a rough area. If anywhere's going to be selling illegal weapons, it'd be somewhere like here__, _Garrus mused, as he stepped to the door and cautiously put one hand on the panel. _The fact it's in such a bad state could be a front for the real operation…_ The turian opened the door, frowning as it opened into, arguably, one of the sparsest looking shops he'd ever seen. _Or it's genuinely this bad._

He'd always had a small fantasy about being involved in a gunfight at an electronics store, but Hante's store definitely didn't fit the image Garrus had expected. Instead of rows of gleaming, highly smashable electronic equipment, he was instead faced with a half-arsed attempt at a display spread over a couple of shelves, and the 'omni-tool bargain bin', a creation whose only redeeming feature was how self-explanatory it was. Garrus usually had a few moments every day during which he considered exactly where his career was supposed to be going. This was one of those moments.

"Hello?" he shouted, on account of not being able to see any kind of shopkeeper around the place, as he moved towards the counter at the far end of the store. Garrus practically winced seeing the wares on display as he moved past, as terminals from ten years ago stared back at him forlornly. It's not possible for inanimate electrical appliances to look sad, but the terminals somehow seemed to be doing an excellent job of it. Garrus vaguely remembered going to visit a varren impound when he was young, for varren rescued from being abandoned by their owners. For some odd reason, the experience seemed to compare disturbingly well to what he was seeing.

"Just *click* a second!" a muffled voice shouted from under the counter, making Garrus roll his eyes as a volus slowly emerged from under the counter, staring up at the turian towering above him. _Conversations always take twice as long with volus, _he thought, resisting the urge to sigh as he looked down at the black and white exo-suit. "Yes? What can I do for you, Palaven-clan?"

Every officer has their own technique for interrogation. Some like to take a soft approach, winning their target over. Other prefer to play it psychologically, looking for small tells and working out what makes the interviewee tick. Garrus, on the other hand, had an approach akin to a charging krogan. Straight to the point, very little bullshit, and it'd hurt like hell if you didn't get out of his way.

"You can tell me why you're smuggling and selling illegal weapons," he replied bluntly, raising his C-Sec badge and glaring down at the volus, presumably Hante, teeth bared a fraction for intimidation. "That should get things going."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hante replied blankly. The sigh Garrus had been holding back finally escaped him. _Why does no-one ever tell the truth straight away…_

"We apprehended a salarian carrying an illegal weapon. Long story short, he broke in interrogation, and told us he got the gun from you." Garrus rattled off the facts as if they were items on a shopping list. It would inevitably come down to him checking the volus' stock for illegal goods, the conversation beforehand was just a formality in case he decided to confess. _Which never happens._

The volus gestured around the store, wheezing as he did so. Wheezing significantly more than when Garrus had first spoken to him. _The pressure's beginning to get to him, _Garrus thought. _Breathing patterns are too easy to follow when it makes a noise each time. _"This is an electronics store, Palaven-clan. I don't sell weapons."

"Then you won't mind me looking around your stock area, checking behind the counter?" The lack of an immediate reply told Garrus everything he needed to know, as the volus began fidgeting nervously.

"I think you need a warrant for that, officer," Hante replied defensively, dropping the formal 'Palaven-clan' as he began respiring even quicker. _Amateur. _

"You're right, I do," Garrus shrugged, widening his mandibles in a small grin. "In normal circumstances. But, I was happening to walk past your store, and I'm sure I smelled a fire. C-Sec officers are duty bound to investigate that, especially somewhere selling goods like yours."

"That is preposterous," Hante replied, managing to take an aggressive tone despite the turian being almost three times his size. "Footage from security cameras will show us talking."

Garrus chuckled to himself. The volus was making things almost too easy. "From the looks of your store, you can barely afford to run this place. Keeping archives of footage is expensive. Running the cameras all day, then having a terminal online to save things to, managing them…it makes the overheads go up, doesn't it?" The turian leaned in even closer to Hante, placing his talons on the counter. "You know, I don't even think they're turned on. And if they are, and I find illegal weapons anyway, no-one's going to care about my grounds for investigation when we've got criminal evidence against you."

Hante stared back defiantly for a few seconds, then sighed deeply, staring down at the ground in defeat. "Will this be easier if I tell you what you're going to find?"

"Much easier."

"I've been selling illegal weapons, yes," the volus admitted. "But…" Garrus grinned even wider, folding his arms. Of course, with any confession, comes the long winded excuse of why they did it._ Black market criminals always think they're the victim. _"I had no choice. I don't have enough money to run this place, and I need some way to earn credits on the side. An opportunity came up, and I took it."

"Do you want to go to jail, Hante?" Garrus knew he'd taken control of the situation, now it was a matter of applying the screws until he got what he wanted. "Possessing illegal weaponry with intent to supply will put you away for a good few years."

"No!" the volus replied frantically. "Please, I can't go to jail! Do you _know _what inmates do to exo-suit wearers?" The turian frowned. He'd heard stories…suit breaches, some prisoners trying to remove the vital helmets just because they 'want to see what they look like'. The Council had developed separate facilities for exo-suit wearing prisoners, but they got overcrowded quickly, and the stories of those who got lost in the judicial system and ended up in a regular prison could be horrifying. No wonder Hante was getting so wound up.

"Then tell me what I want to know," Garrus demanded. "Now. My patience is beginning to wear dangerously thin. Who gave you the weapons?"

"I swear, I wouldn't have taken them if I had any other choice. I need to make enough to live off, and-" Shaking his head, Garrus began reaching for his handcuffs. "Fine! A group of four people, they called themselves Red Echo! Turians and humans. They came to me, and said my store looked like I could do with the money. They were right. I bought the weapons off them to sell on myself. Some pistols, a couple of assault rifles, that's all!"

"That's all you know?" Garrus asked cynically. "You didn't get any names, anywhere they might be located, things like that?"

"I told you, they came to me," Hante replied cautiously. "This is the truth, Palaven-clan." _Ah, he's showing some respect again… _"Please. Take the weapons, I don't want anything to do with them anymore."

The turian chuckled under his breath. "Do you think it's that easy, Hante?"

"You can't give me a warning?" the volus asked frantically. "This is my first offence! And, and…" Garrus felt his amusement rise gradually, as the volus cast around for something to say. "C-Sec doesn't have many friends in this part of the Citadel."

"Who said we were looking for friends?"

"You know what I mean, Palaven-clan," Hante wheezed. "If you do me this favour, I might be able to return it. C-Sec needs contacts, correct?"

Garrus took a small step back in surprise. "You're offering to be an informant?"

"If it keeps me out of prison, a deal could be made," Hante nodded. "And I do not like the word 'informant'. If I heard about anything C-Sec might be interested in around this area, I would feel inclined to report it. As a…concerned citizen."

"Concerned citizen," Garrus laughed. "Right." As satisfying (and tempting) as it would be to lock Hante up, contacts in rougher areas of the Citadel were particularly hard to come by. There was a risk Hante might try to give him the slip, but the threat of arrest usually kept people in line. It lacked the instant gratification of an arrest, but the volus could prove useful in the future. It wasn't a particularly difficult choice to make. "You're going to let me take those illegal weapons, and walk out the door. This is your first offence, and if you co-operate fully, I _might _be able to let this go." Just as Hante began to breathe a sigh of relief, Garrus leaned back over the counter, teeth bared in a snarl. "If you don't co-operate if I need your help in future, then you're going to wish I'd just put handcuffs on you now. Understood?"

"I understand," Hante squeaked, pitch of his voice rising at least an octave in fear.

"Good." Garrus opened his omni-tool, quickly entering the number for C-Sec dispatch with practiced ease, then lifting his talon to his ear as the call went through. "Dispatch? It's Detective Vakarian. I'm going to need a unit to retrieve weapons from this address…"

##########

"The volus was just the middle-man," Garrus explained, standing in front of Executor Pallin's desk as the other turian scowled at him. Garrus wasn't too bothered by that, though, since Pallin had been doing that to people all day. _The new human must really be getting to him. _"Someone else supplied him with the weapons to sell on."

"I'm not sure why this volus isn't here to tell me that himself," Pallin muttered. "His shop was stocking illegal weaponry, and you didn't arrest him?"

Garrus shrugged, feeling a tinge of regret at the look the gesture earned him off the Executor. "I took the initiative, sir. It was his first offence, and he offered to be an informant for C-Sec. We don't get enough intelligence as it is, and contacts involved in the black market are too rare to ignore."

"You said he wasn't a big player," Pallin replied, shaking his head.

"Better than nothing at all," Garrus countered. "Sir."

"Can you guarantee he'll co-operate with you?"

"If he doesn't, I'll arrest him. I made a decision, Pall-" Garrus caught the small growl from the Executor before he finished saying his name. "Executor. All due respect, stop picking holes in it. Hante isn't the important thing, anyway."

"Oh?" Pallin chuckled, folding his arms. "You're yet to tell me what is."

"He mentioned a mercenary group that supplied him," Garrus said. "They were called Red Echo."

A confused expression slipped onto Pallin's face. "I've never heard of them."

"That's the thing," Garrus replied, mandibles widening in thought. "Neither have I. If we've got a new mercenary group selling supplies on the Citadel, we might be looking at a serious problem. We have enough trouble from the Blue Suns as it is."

"Then you need to look into this," Pallin said firmly. "Now. A new mercenary group forming could be catastrophic."

"The thought had crossed my mind."

Pallin's eyes narrowed. "Are you being sarcastic to me, Vakarian?"

"No, no," Garrus replied, quickly backtracking. _I need to make the sarcasm less obvious… _"I'm agreeing with you."

"Good." Pallin paused for a few seconds, then cleared his throat and addressed Garrus again, seemingly unwilling to take the point any further. "What leads to you have?"

"The name, and, erm…" Garrus cringed inwardly, realising how little he really had to go on. "Well, that's about it."

"You could do with someone with more expertise in the criminal underbelly of Omega," Pallin mused, raising a talon to his jaw.

Garrus frowned in annoyance. "I've been working this job for a little while, Executor. I'm experienced."

"No, I mean someone who's experienced because they've been involved," the Executor responded. "I don't know if you've heard of Harkin, from-"

"Oh, no, I am _not _working with him," Garrus said immediately, raising a talon in protest. He'd heard of Harkin for many reasons, and none of them good. "The man's an embarrassment to his own species. Humans hate him as much as everyone else."

Pallin shook his head, sighing. "I know. But he could have heard something in one of those cesspools he likes to crawl around." Garrus couldn't help smirking at the turn of phrase. "I'm not asking you to have him help run the investigation. Just go and ask him some questions, see if he knows anything about this 'Red Echo'."

"Sir, I-"

"You have no other leads, Vakarian," Pallin pointed out impatiently. "Follow this up. That's an order. And one you're going to follow." The Executor gave him yet another glare. "Your attitude isn't the best I've seen, and I've told you not to cross me today. The point still stands. Get this done. I want Red Echo rounded up and destroyed, is that clear?"

"Crystal," Garrus muttered, inwardly cursing his luck. Even being seen with Harkin was embarrassing, and he wanted nothing to do with the human. He'd signed up to deal with filth like Harkin, not work with them. _Still, _he thought begrudgingly. _He might have something to go on. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a member. _"I'll report back to you if anything comes up."

"Be sure that you do," Pallin said, tilting his head back down to stare at the dossier on his desk. Garrus turned on his heel and headed for the door, unable to help his mandibles clicking lightly in annoyance as it slid open. Once they were closed, the light clicking became gradually more and more aggressive as he headed to check Harkin's location.

The day hadn't started brilliantly. With Harkin getting involved, Garrus had a horrible feeling things were only just getting started.

**A/N: Chapter 2, done! And it only took me a few months****. I think I'm going to update this at the end of each case in MtM3, so you'll need to bear with me. Fortunately, the chapters are all going to be around the same size they were in MtM1, so at least it's not an enormous time commitment getting them done.**

**Anyway, now Harkin's involved! Amongst other things (like the story behind Garrus and Ian's partnership) I kind of wanted to explore why Garrus hates Harkin so much in ME1 + 2. It feels like they have a past together, so it'll be good to ****look at that. We'll be meeting him next chapter, there's something to look forward to.**

**So, thanks for reading, reviewing, and I'll see you then! After copious amounts of Masses to Masses 3, anyway.**


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